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You're supposed to leave the 20 on the mattress...

Midwesterners...geez!

I'd consider printing labels on sticky paper and using that instead of a sharpie. Dangerous way to set up the block on the miter saw. You never want a short piece to be wedged between the blade and something. Be careful Theo.

Ice block is cool idea. I may borrow it for use with my December Crew in Malifaux.

That rack looks pretty good. When you move locally to me (alone with everyone else I like from this forum) I'll get you to make me one. Hope you're feeling better and more up for doing stuff soon, but like most of life, it's an ebb and flow thing. The train-wargame table sounds like a good plan, though!

Red Harvest wrote:You're supposed to leave the 20 on the mattress...

Midwesterners...geez!

I'd consider printing labels on sticky paper and using that instead of a sharpie. Dangerous way to set up the block on the miter saw. You never want a short piece to be wedged between the blade and something. Be careful Theo.

Ice block is cool idea. I may borrow it for use with my December Crew in Malifaux.

Danger-Stupid is my middle name , in the video I watched about the crystal he suggested using nail polish, but I found that the blue wash worked just fine and I already had that laying about.

Azazelx wrote:That rack looks pretty good. When you move locally to me (alone with everyone else I like from this forum) I'll get you to make me one. Hope you're feeling better and more up for doing stuff soon, but like most of life, it's an ebb and flow thing. The train-wargame table sounds like a good plan, though!

I want to do stuff, but my schedule is so hectic right now, my list of things to do and places to be today alone is 8 different stops all over Saint Louis. Between car inspections (passed and then the check engine light popped on 3 miles later ), working at church, picking the twins up from school for an orthodontist appointment, Zack’s volleyball, Lilly’s cheer practice, Sarah’s school conferences, and general errands it’s not really a day off that I planned it to be.

But I did stop between stops and bought a new 4’x8’ 3/4MDF sheet of plywood to begin table construction. That’s right, instead of Onitober I am changing this month to octable. The month of table building . The MDF has been cut down to a 3’x3’ board for my feudal Japan board. I plan on it sitting on top of a 34”x34” folding card table and the test of honour boards are just 3’x3’. The rest of the board got cut down into a 3’x5’ board for a Christmas train table my son and I will build together before Christmas. We have a HO scale train set that’s been beaten up over the years that he sets ever Christmas, but this year we are doing it right .....or at least better. The rest of the board I saw currently 1’ wide and I need two sections (3+5’) long. Also while at Home Depot I bought a bucket and lid

You may notice the strainer on top, that’s because the bucket is full of sawdust.....which will become flocking. A 15’ square table is not getting store bought flock I’m not rich . So we will see if YouTube terrain guys are right that you can make your own for dirt cheap. I’ve started straining the sawdust and in five minutes I have a container of really fine (double strained it) sawdust and a smaller jar of coarse sawdust which was what didn’t make it through the strainer either of the two times.

I’ll give it a go tonight or tomorrow morning to see if this works out. I have to pick up some green craft paint first.

So anyway ....

Made some flock, it’s still drying and I’m using craftpaint I had sitting around, so not my choice of colors really.

Dark brown will help in forest and dead wooded areas, the blue green.....well I guess it’ll get mixed in with some darker greens eventually to give some tone value to the board.

Also could be done in any colors so making alien worlds could get useful.

About to take a trip to a train shop nearby, my kids are off school today because of conferences, so we can go and look for some more HO scale track to build the board up. One of his good friends works there part time and gets paid in store credit/models, I’m hoping this might get Zack into the hobby or both into wargaming.

$0.50 worth of English ivy craft paint(2oz) and a bunch of sawdust yields lots of flock.


Not much free time with sports and work, planning on crashing for an hour or two after church, I need some sleep. Might work on the train layout plan of the cat house though.

Wow way cool making your own flock

Much more suitable paint choice there, are you enjoying the process of making your own flock? Am eagerly awaiting the first images of the Octable.

cormadepanda wrote:Wow way cool making your own flock

Not nearly as hard as it may seem. Not perfect, but easily tabletop quality in my book.

Strain sawdust to get fine powder.
Put sawdust in a Dixie cup.
Add a little cheap craft acrylic paint.
Stir with disposable spoon, stick finger until lumps have broken into powder. Add more paint or sawdust as needed to get coverage or promote less clumping.
Dump onto disposable plate.
Spread out flat so it can dry.
Flip over once after 2-3 hours(optional, and I also have a dehumidifier running in my basement, so might take longer).
Ready to use

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Much more suitable paint choice there, are you enjoying the process of making your own flock? Am eagerly awaiting the first images of the Octable.

Suitable for you silly humans you mean , not all worlds are covered in green growey things, some are purple, some orange.

No but seriously the colors were the ones I had on hand for a project, so I get it. The brown will make a nice mulch color though.

Had to get lightbulbs from Walmart for my daughter and I grabbed a couple more tubes of the English ivy (dark green) and two of the mossy green which look fantastic and match my shrubbery.


I think I have a winner.

Now the flock isn’t all uniform color wise. There’s some of the sawdust color as tiny flecks, but it looks good to me.

Nice Flocking idea Theo. All jokes aside it a great way to use up stuff you would have thrown away.

Yorkright wrote:
Nice Flocking idea Theo. All jokes aside it a great way to use up stuff you would have thrown away.

I am an avid recycler. Not too worried about the world as I’ll be long gone before anyone is buried in trash (Wall-E style), but just I hate that we waste so much.

The little paper green squarish thing is a clipping from a trail mat which I have a 4x6’ roll of set aside for this table for my son. The flocking will likely cover most of the table, but we will see budget wise if I just use it for terrain pieces that sit on top or the whole shebang.

Also I tried making white flock......things did not go well, but it does look like wheat that has been covered in snow . The train table is looking more and more like a summer table than winter.

 Theophony wrote:

Yorkright wrote:
Nice Flocking idea Theo. All jokes aside it a great way to use up stuff you would have thrown away.

I am an avid recycler. Not too worried about the world as I’ll be long gone before anyone is buried in trash (Wall-E style), but just I hate that we waste so much.

The little paper green squarish thing is a clipping from a trail mat which I have a 4x6’ roll of set aside for this table for my son. The flocking will likely cover most of the table, but we will see budget wise if I just use it for terrain pieces that sit on top or the whole shebang.

Also I tried making white flock......things did not go well, but it does look like wheat that has been covered in snow . The train table is looking more and more like a summer table than winter.

Only if it gets a river. Thanks for the details on the flock.

Great work bud, been working on my own flock for some time, various methods and materials work well. If you want to knock back that bright green add a little red, not too much, you will just go brown, can work on it even if it is dry, I just re-dyed a batch 3 different shades.made it lighter by adding in yellow and a little water to reactivate the colour in the flock.

Sorry, will respond more later, just a quick stop by. Went by the local FLGS (Game Nite) as I was way early for work, and saw a closed permanently sign on the door. . Nice guys in business for 11 years. Said it was out of their hands. They just had a tournament (magic I think) on Saturday and were busy when I drove by. No head notice as I stopped in last week.

Always a shame to lose a good FLGS (or any business) - especially when it's run by nice people. Your flock looks great, and some colour variation is a good thing, even on "uniform" colours. Look at a perfectly manicured lawn and you'll still see some variation, even if it's caused by light and shadow.

So no sooner than I had posted here about them closing and exited out, I had an email.

Miniaturemarket is expanding its retail presence...since Game Nite opened in the exact location that miniaturemarket left 6 or so years ago I wonder if they didn’t buy Game Nite out. it makes sense in my mind anyway. I guess I’ll see soon enough.

 Theophony wrote:

cormadepanda wrote:Wow way cool making your own flock

Not nearly as hard as it may seem. Not perfect, but easily tabletop quality in my book.

Strain sawdust to get fine powder.
Put sawdust in a Dixie cup.
Add a little cheap craft acrylic paint.
Stir with disposable spoon, stick finger until lumps have broken into powder. Add more paint or sawdust as needed to get coverage or promote less clumping.
Dump onto disposable plate.
Spread out flat so it can dry.
Flip over once after 2-3 hours(optional, and I also have a dehumidifier running in my basement, so might take longer).
Ready to use

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Much more suitable paint choice there, are you enjoying the process of making your own flock? Am eagerly awaiting the first images of the Octable.

Suitable for you silly humans you mean , not all worlds are covered in green growey things, some are purple, some orange.

No but seriously the colors were the ones I had on hand for a project, so I get it. The brown will make a nice mulch color though.

Had to get lightbulbs from Walmart for my daughter and I grabbed a couple more tubes of the English ivy (dark green) and two of the mossy green which look fantastic and match my shrubbery.


I think I have a winner.

Now the flock isn’t all uniform color wise. There’s some of the sawdust color as tiny flecks, but it looks good to me.

You have some outstanding ideas about using commonly available materials. I might have to steal some of your ideas down the road.

It works! An excellent flocking material, Theophony. That sawdust is really good in grainyness and shape, never had such a success personally but now ill try it again. From the photo it looks as miniature woodchips or plastic scraps and not a real "dust".

oldravenman3025 wrote:

 Theophony wrote:

cormadepanda wrote:Wow way cool making your own flock

Not nearly as hard as it may seem. Not perfect, but easily tabletop quality in my book.

Strain sawdust to get fine powder.
Put sawdust in a Dixie cup.
Add a little cheap craft acrylic paint.
Stir with disposable spoon, stick finger until lumps have broken into powder. Add more paint or sawdust as needed to get coverage or promote less clumping.
Dump onto disposable plate.
Spread out flat so it can dry.
Flip over once after 2-3 hours(optional, and I also have a dehumidifier running in my basement, so might take longer).
Ready to use

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Much more suitable paint choice there, are you enjoying the process of making your own flock? Am eagerly awaiting the first images of the Octable.

Suitable for you silly humans you mean , not all worlds are covered in green growey things, some are purple, some orange.

No but seriously the colors were the ones I had on hand for a project, so I get it. The brown will make a nice mulch color though.

Had to get lightbulbs from Walmart for my daughter and I grabbed a couple more tubes of the English ivy (dark green) and two of the mossy green which look fantastic and match my shrubbery.


I think I have a winner.

Now the flock isn’t all uniform color wise. There’s some of the sawdust color as tiny flecks, but it looks good to me.

You have some outstanding ideas about using commonly available materials. I might have to steal some of your ideas down the road.

They Aren’t mine, so steal away as I stole them previously. It is the way if Dakkadakka and modeling thieves around the globe.

Wirecat wrote:It works! An excellent flocking material, Theophony. That sawdust is really good in grainyness and shape, never had such a success personally but now ill try it again. From the photo it looks as miniature woodchips or plastic scraps and not a real "dust".

That’s before I restrained it, so still a little clumpy. I think if I had a blender or chopper I could use specifically for this it would make it even finer, but I think it looks good as is.

I’ve been so ho hum about everything modeling and gaming wise this month. The only thing I’ve accomplished is making flock and clearing a table to set up my sons train set. So I think this month is a wash and it will just be known as Flocktober from now on . No desire to mess with anything today either. I did get a router, a table it mounts to and some old fashioned pipe clamps from clearing out Poppy’s basement. No body else wanted them. There’s an old table saw (too big for my uses) which I think I’m going to pass on and a Drill press that may make it into my garage.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
I took a few minutes to base the watchtower with the mossy green flock I made.
p
I think the size I saw good, and the little bits that didn’t get colored work out great for contrast.

Looks like slightly longer unkept grass compared to the bought stuff which is really fine grade.

I guess it’s more of a long leaf mix of flock than the fine grade flocks. Still think it’ll do great.

Also the full watchtower pic shows how much I’ve made of two colors. The plastic containers are a good size and wound up not working for my wife so I saved them from the recycle bin .

Even figuring in the cost of the bucket and lid I’m under $8 for a ton of flock and I still have plenty of sawdust left to make lots more. Each 2 oz craft paint tube ($0.50) gives me four nine inch paper plates full of flock about quarter of an inch thick.

I’ve made a couple batches of an orange I had laying about and some more brown, this time I didn’t add as much paint into the sawdust so there’s more of the uncolored sawdust in the mix. I’ll post pics tomorrow with them, but while they were still dry they and the spring green colors were giving me a strong fall foliage feel. Might have to grab some pink and see about making some cherry blossoms.

That looks great Theo, it's very effective, and moreso because of the colour variance.

Looking perfect to me. Really nice variation in colour.

If you want super fine, stick the dry stuff through a blender or old coffee grinder. Got to say I personally prefer your work over the bought. Got a better texture.

Dang, Theo. Your recent scratch-builds have been inspirational to me. I have to ask, though: where is the big rock?

dont let hobby lulls own you. You own them. Buy them out! - that was the advice i got from the business ork.

Azazelx wrote:That looks great Theo, it's very effective, and moreso because of the colour variance.

Thanks Azazelx, that’s what I was thinking as well.

Camkierhi wrote:Looking perfect to me. Really nice variation in colour.

If you want super fine, stick the dry stuff through a blender or old coffee grinder. Got to say I personally prefer your work over the bought. Got a better texture.

Yeah, but don’t want to use the family blender, though we have a small food processor that never gets used .

JoshInJapan wrote:Dang, Theo. Your recent scratch-builds have been inspirational to me. I have to ask, though: where is the big rock?

The big rock isn’t sitting under my desk right now. It might get some attention since you reminded me of it.

cormadepanda wrote:dont let hobby lulls own you. You own them. Buy them out! - that was the advice i got from the business ork.

A business Ork? I know teeth are cash, so should I punch their teeth out and offer to give some back if they get in line?

Well more flock for Flocktober. This is the orange/autumn color flock.
.
Might mix in some brown to give nice variety, or keep it seperate and find some bright yellow to add to it later.

Man that pumpkin exploded on you. Looks like fun flock.

Yeah pretty you get the idea to orkonomics.

Interesting technique! I'd like to see a small mix of your colors on a base or two.

cormadepanda wrote:Man that pumpkin exploded on you. Looks like fun flock.

Yeah pretty you get the idea to orkonomics.

Easy to learn, hard to master

dsteingass wrote:Interesting technique! I'd like to see a small mix of your colors on a base or two.

I’ll see what I can do later this evening.

In the mean time the hedgemaster strikes again.

Bored with cutting the rolled mats that samurai slash with their katana, Chobei has taken up creating topiary sculpting.

I think he might just have a future in this field.
I think I used the mossy green flock, but the two are just so close that I’m not sure . The single Christmas tree one might get some gel nail beads placed on it like an actual Christmas tree .

Those are cool. Any thoughts on doing some Edward Scissorhands style animals or shapes?

Good flocking effort, Theo.
Good topiary too.

youwashock wrote:Those are cool. Any thoughts on doing some Edward Scissorhands style animals or shapes?

, I was digging through one of my junk drawers looking for some old plastic cocktail drink animal charms, the silly things they adorn the glass with, when you typed that reply. No luck, but I’m sure I’ll remember where they are eventually.

Dr H wrote:Good flocking effort, Theo.
Good topiary too.

Thanks Dr. H, I just need to start playing a contemporary game where I could use these as street decor or as part of a park display.


Sorry dave, I haven’t flocked any bases with these mixed yet, I did go out and grab some more of the moss green (which I didn’t realize was gloss finish or that’s it was almost twice the price a total $0.97 per 2 oz). I also grabbed some sunbeam yellow to also hit that color in with the fall foliage technique. So mixing commenced.

8 more trays of flock drying as I type. 6 more of the moss green and 2 of the sunbeam yellow.

Should blend nicely in with some browns or orange.

Chobei has quite the eye for topiary, keep him around for help.